A Magazine Non-Christians Need to be Warned About

It's as though Christians know non-Christians will not pick up one of their magazines and read it, which means that they have a free pass to write as much superstitious nonsense and cram as much supernatural guilt into every edition of Joy! Magazine as possible. Every non-believer who needs verification about the absurdity of the Christian faith definitely needs to skim through the pages of one of these ridiculous magazines. The fact that this magazine reaches millions disgusts me when I see what it contains. I guess I'm moved to blog about this because I feel completely inundated and swamped with irrational religion in the last couple of days. More so than usual. This was not helped by the erection (lol) of a new Christian billboard on the N1: Call on the name of Jesus and be Saved.

Here are the highlights:

One article accuses "politicians and others of trying to sideline religion by promoting their false idea of tolerance.’” It also announces that these politicians are allowing an “attack on the freedoms of churches”

In other news, “the leader of a Messianic Jewish ministry believes a couple of Biblical prophecies dealing with wars in the Middle East could come to fruition within the next five years. Psalm 83 & Ezekiel 37."

There is plenty promotion of pro-life through advertisements proclaiming “estimated 900 000 SA babies have lost their lives through abortion," which, as predicted, does not take into account the fact that a woman is raped in South Africa every 17 seconds and a child is raped every three minutes. But I suppose your God still does not allow you to abort the child of your rapist.South African rape survey shockThe Lost Girls of South AfricaSA rape factsThere is a glorious pro-Bush article: Prayers sustained me as president.

An article on deception: “too many Christians are being influenced by the liberal secular media and falling prey to political deception. This is obvious not only in South Africa, but particularly in Obama’s America” where he tries to forward his “godless agenda.”

“Obama is working diligently to implement a slew of homosexual demands including ENDA, the so-called anti-discrimination Bill that will force faith based organizations to employ homosexuals or face the threat of being shut down. At the time of writing, hearings were underway in the US congress to repeal the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy that will allow homosexuals to serve openly in the US Military – an extreme social engineering policy that will have serious implications for Military morale. Incredibly, despite Barack Obama’s open hostility to Biblical Christianity and his unswerving commitment to the radical liberal ideology that makes him the most pro-abortion and pro-homosexual president in US history, millions of Christians around the world believe he is a Christian. But what convinced them? From my study of the Scriptures, I am assured it cannot be God’s Word. The God of the Bible does not condone the murder of the unborn, nor does He provide special rights for homosexuals.”

There is an article warning about the sin of covetousness with images and speech bubbles saying things like: Hmm, I think we need a new couch. Our current one is so out of fashion. ; Test driving this car is amazing! I want it! ; Why can’t I have a job like his? ; Let’s spoil ourselves!.Because, as we all know, ambition and desire are utterly inhuman emotions to have.

There are warnings about theological liberalism and a two page article on divine healing, which naturally links to the dangerous realm of Christian science with the obvious result that people who do not receive medical treatment die.

“Hell is a serious business and Jesus warned about it more than He talked about Heaven.”There is literary irrational paranoia all the way through this magazine.

Question from reader to magazine in the Ask Val section:How can god allow the sexual molestation of little children?Answer:Free will and, this is arguably worse: “Parents have an awesome responsibility to protect their children too by praying for them and teaching them how to pray.” There is absolutely no mention of social or parental responsibilities or accountabilities. No mention of how to teach your child where it is alright for a stranger to touch them and where it is not, and no mention of how to gently elicit information from your child when you see possible signs of molestation (*cough*by a priest*cough*obvious comment*cough*), or even how to identify these signs in the first place. “When things happen that we don’t understand, we commit it to Him in the realization that our knowledge if very limited and He has everything under control.” “Rather than losing faith, let’s use our response to these kinds of situations to actively reach children in danger, and lead them to the Lord and teach them to pray."

There are warnings about Christian Atheists, an approach to Christianity “which can poison, sicken, and even kill eternally.” Christian Atheists, according to the author, are essentially Christians who believe in God and Jesus but do not feel that the local church is necessary for “spiritual growth.” Or, arguably, the Christians Atheists find it easiest to get along with.

"90 Million African Christians Await Completion of Kiswahili Bible."Africa is already rampant with a deadly blend of ignorant Christianity and tribal superstitions. This is fueling atrocities against young children on a daily basis.African Children Denounced as Witches by Christian Pastors.Churches involved in torture, murder of thousands of African children denounced as witches.Witchcraft murder in Lusikisiki.Man jailed for witchcraft murder.Tackling Witch murders in Tanzania.London witchcraft murder traced to Africa child trade.etc. etc. etc. Not even to mention the role of Christianity in the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill which declares the punishment for homosexuality death. To add the Bible to a continent where the majority of the population do not have a tertiary education and barely a decent high school education is to put a weapon of mass destruction in the hands of the desperate who will believe anything they are told without being able to fully understand the supposed deeper philosophical and theological arguments presented in the contradictory, violent Biblical text.

“The deadly danger of moralism has been a convenient substitute for the Gospel – but ‘good’ people won’t get to Heaven based on their goodness alone.”“Moralism produces sinners who are (potentially) better behaved. The Gospel of Christ transforms sinners into adopted sons and daughters of God.”This article continues to preach the dangers of communicating “false Gospel to a fallen world.”“A young person who is ‘raised right’ emerges as an adult who obeys the laws, respects his neighbours, gives at least lip service to religious expectations, and stays away from scandal. The point is clear – this is what parents expect, the culture affirms, and many churches celebrate. But our communities are filled with people who have been ‘raised right’ but are headed for hell.”“Hell will be highly populated with those who were ‘raised right.’ The citizens of Heaven will be those who, by the sheer Grace and Mercy of God, are there solely because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.”

Hell, fire and brimstone. From cover to cover, with a few words in between on how to prevent being burned eternally simply for being a human being.

Religion vs Relationship. Religion: “any human attempt to find a way, on his or her terms, to God.” “Religion originates on Earth in the minds of men and women, while Christianity originates in Heaven in the Trinity of God."

Sigh. Are you getting tired of this yet? Try reading it at 3am as a "light read" because you can't fall asleep.

Reasons God allows pain: God has given us free will. God uses pain to get our attention. God uses pain to teach us to depend on him. God allows pain to give you a message or ministry to others.

While we're on the topic of God allowing pain, this is a relevant lol I reckon. apiyor, a manic Christian on Twitter, created an analogy for why God sent the flood to destroy mankind. Imagine the president in a massive room with a “launch all nuclear warheads and destroy the world” button leaving his own baby to crawl around in the room. Next thing he knows the baby is reaching for the button about to wipe out humanity and the only way the president can stop it is to (wait for it) shoot the baby because the room is too big to stop him otherwise. That makes sense, right?At this point anyone who does not have a warped sense of logic would be asking questions like, “Why would the president leave a baby to crawl around in a room with a self-destruct button? Why would the president let it crawl around in a room so big that if something goes wrong he can’t get to it? Why are the only precautionary measures he could think of taking inevitable death?” On an omnipotent, omniscient level, surely this could have been better orchestrated.

Check this out from an article titled, “The Law of God and the Gospel of Christ.”“The Law condemns – but the Gospel of Christ saves.The Law reveals our sin – but the Gospel reveals the Saviour.The Law makes us guilty – but the Gospel of Christ offers us forgiveness.The Law demands payment – but the Gospel of Jesus Christ pays our debts to God.The Law cannot make us righteous. The Law cannot save. However, the Law does reveal our sin – but it is only Jesus Christ who can redeem us from sin. “So essentially an ancient, unreliable text makes us believe that we have made a spiritual transgression of some kind simply for existing and conveniently presents us with a solution to our never-before-seen problem: eternal moral, spiritual, mental and emotional servitude. It sounds like a bad pharmaceutical advertisement that makes you ‘realise’ you need medicine for an ailment you never knew you had: “Do you go to bed at night and wake up in the morning? Then you need the JesusMiracle pill!”

Homophobia upon homophobia:“Angels execute temporary and permanent judgments as exemplified in the following scriptures; When Lot was living in Sodom and Gomorrah; he was faced by a mob of angry homosexuals. The angels struck the homosexuals with blindness (Genesis 19:1-13). Herod was struck dead by an angel. (Acts 12:23). 185 000 Assyrian soldiers were slain by one angel. (Isaiah 37:36).”

O_o

Relationships before marriage:“Let’s look at how God views marriage, and relationships outside marriage, and we will see that any physical relationship outside marriage, of whatever degree, is considered sin in the eyes of God. It is not a question of, ‘Where do we draw the line?’ because if we do try to draw a line somewhere, it will almost certainly be crossed.”“Maybe you are already in a physical relationship outside or before marriage, and the Lord is convicting you that it isn’t right. MY advice is to repent and make a firm decision to stop all physical intimacy immediately; and don’t look back. God’s Grace is there to help you.”

Question: Is it wrong to go on holiday with someone you are engaged to? (Not sharing a bed, etc).Answer: The human heart is “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” Jer 17:9 and deliberately placing ourselves in the way of temptation could prove a snare – as many a believer has found to their cost. Shared holidays are not a good idea and the principles of the Word do not support it.Abstinence-only education. As always a reliable way to keep the youth of today in unchaste ignorance, denial, or fear.

This shit is dangerous. Simple as that. The indoctrination of already indoctrinated adult minds is an ongoing process. If we don't speak out about it who will? This magazine was literally crammed full of the most bigoted, nonsensical gibberish I have ever encountered and it sells like hotcakes.

So, monogamous relationships outside of marriage are a no-no, but according to Old Testament tradition, it's perfectly okay to have as many wives (and concubines) as you want. Yeah, that makes sense. They have this stupid catchphrase they use about premarital relations as well as homosexual relationships: "One man and one woman for one lifetime." I used it too, when I was an indoctrinated teenage Bigot For Jesus. It's amazing how they are able to tout Adam and Eve as "proof" of God's supposed plan for marriage and relations, while they ignore the fact that nearly every Man Of God in the OT had multiple wives and often concubines in addition to the wives. They insist that Biblical decrees were never intended to change; God is timeless and so are his proclamations... but conveniently, multiple wives, eating shellfish, stoning disobedient children, marrying your dead brother's wife and fucking her so she will produce heirs for him... those things are all in there because of the culture of the time and don't apply to us. Those sorts of believers are dishonest with themselves about what they believe and they're the most dangerous, IMO.

Reading even one paragraph of this crap is the equivalent of removing your brain from your skull and bludgeoning it to death with a blunt object (which is the option I would choose if I was ever forced to make that decision). I'm surprised you haven't fallen into a coma. If I were you, I'd go get checked for any permanent brain damage that may have been inflicted.

Thanks for the post. I had to force myself to read the entire thing. After breaking free of such indoctrination I know first-hand how difficult it can be especially under the great threat of hell-fire.

WoW! What a piece of garbage this rag is!
I find it amazing and incredible that a magazine promoting fear, intolerance, bigotry, irrationality and hatred is entitled JOY. ô¿ô
I can hear Carl Sagan sighing...

These are evil, evil people. The fact that they think they are not makes them that much more dangerous. We have a moral obligation to negate their influence and, since we are now finding our way out of the closet, this is the best time ever to do so.